JP3963049B2 - Method and apparatus for maintaining freshness in fresh leaf management apparatus - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a quality control method for fresh tea leaves and an apparatus for improving the efficiency of transporting fresh tea leaves and improving the cooling efficiency of fresh tea leaves by storing and transporting the picked fresh tea leaves while cooling. In particular, the present invention relates to a freshness maintaining method in a novel fresh leaf management apparatus and its apparatus capable of maintaining freshness of fresh tea leaves by replenishing water to circulating fresh tea leaves.
[0002]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
When the picked fresh tea leaves are carried into a tea factory, they are first stored in a storage container prior to tea processing. This is to ensure the storage space for fresh tea leaves so that a stable amount of fresh tea leaves can always be supplied to the tea processing equipment, and to supply high quality fresh tea leaves with reduced product temperature to the tea processing equipment. This is for the purpose of cooling.
[0003]
However, when a large amount of fresh tea leaves is put into such a storage container, the cooling efficiency of the fresh tea leaves as expected cannot be achieved (particularly, it appears prominently inside the accumulated fresh tea leaves). Therefore, a mobile fresh tea leaf storage container (mainly equipped with a transport conveyor having a large number of ventilation holes on the bottom surface of the storage container and improving cooling efficiency by sending cold air from the ventilation holes into the storage container. The name “invention” belongs to the same concept as the “live leaf management device”), and it is widely used.
[0004]
However, such a mobile fresh tea leaf storage container has the following problems to be solved.
First of all, even in such a mobile fresh tea leaf storage container, if a large amount of fresh tea leaves are kept stored for a long time, such as at night, leaf burning occurs, and the commercial value is lost. There was a situation of suffering the damage.
[0005]
Secondly, the temperature of fresh tea leaves accumulated in such a mobile fresh tea leaf storage container is not uniform (particularly, the temperature at the lower part where it is exposed to a lot of cold air and the upper part where it is in contact with the outside air is low. high). Therefore, even fresh tea leaves with high product temperature that have not been cooled to the product temperature in accordance with the fresh tea leaves that have fallen in product temperature until they can be supplied to the next tea production process, were supplied to the next tea production process. In some cases, the quality of the product was lowered.
[0006]
Thirdly, in the mobile fresh tea leaf storage container, the fresh tea leaves are cooled only by the cold air from the blower, and the cooling efficiency of the fresh tea leaves is not always satisfactory. It was.
[0007]
Therefore, in order to solve these problems, the present applicant has already filed an application of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-103215 “Method and apparatus for managing raw tea leaves”, and by solving this problem, further transport of fresh tea leaves can be achieved. It was possible to improve efficiency and improve the cooling efficiency of fresh tea leaves.
This invention is such that all or a part of the fresh tea leaves taken out from the storage container is circulated by being re-entered into the storage container again. The purpose of preventing the burning of leaves by circulating fresh tea leaves has been achieved. However, the present applicant was not satisfied with the purpose of maintaining the quality of fresh tea leaves, and as a result of striving to investigate the room for further improvement, the recycled fresh tea leaves were introduced into the tea processing equipment as much as they were circulated. Therefore, it has been found that a situation in which a decrease in freshness caused by losing moisture is caused can also be assumed.
[0008]
Incidentally, in the conventional leaf management device, although a humidifier is provided together with a blower device in the lower part of the storage container, this humidifier device feeds humid air generated in the mist chamber with a blower. There was no ability to return fresh tea leaves that had been exposed to the open air in the circulatory system and lost their water to a suitable water level again.
[0009]
[Technical problem to be solved]
The present invention was made in view of such a background, and when fresh tea leaves are put into a storage container, freshness can be prevented by replenishing fresh tea leaves with water. This is an attempt to develop a freshness maintaining method and apparatus for a fresh leaf management apparatus.
[0010]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
That is, the freshness maintenance method in the fresh leaf management device according to claim 1 stores the picked fresh tea leaves in a storage container, cools the stored fresh tea leaves, and stores and transports them while controlling the quality of the fresh tea leaves. In the method for managing fresh tea leaves, wherein all or a part of fresh tea leaves taken out to the outside are circulated again by re-introducing them into the storage container, the raw tea leaves that pass when the raw tea leaves are re-introduced into the storage container. In one or both of the tea leaf communication path and the fresh tea leaf circulation path, water is supplied to the fresh tea leaves.
According to this invention, since fresh water is replenished into the storage container to replenish moisture, a decrease in freshness can be prevented, and the product temperature of the fresh tea leaves is reduced, thereby improving the processing quality in the tea processing process. be able to.
[0011]
In addition, the freshness maintaining device in the fresh leaf management device according to claim 2 is provided with a storage container for storing the picked fresh tea leaves, and a plurality of the storage containers are provided for cooling the fresh tea leaves stored in the storage container, At least a blower for quality control and a transport conveyor for closing and storing the bottom of the storage container and storing and transporting fresh tea leaves stored in the storage container. In the raw tea leaf management device comprising a raw tea leaf supply path for supplying fresh tea leaves that have become below the temperature and a fresh tea leaf circulation path for re-feeding fresh tea leaves that are higher than a predetermined product temperature into the storage container again, Either or both of the fresh tea leaf communication route and the fresh tea leaf circulation route are provided with a mechanism for supplying water to the fresh tea leaf.
According to this invention, since fresh water is replenished into the storage container to replenish moisture, a decrease in freshness can be prevented, and the product temperature of the fresh tea leaves is reduced, thereby improving the processing quality in the tea processing process. be able to.
[0012]
The freshness maintaining device in the fresh leaf management device according to claim 3 is characterized in that, in addition to the requirement of claim 2, the mechanism for supplying water to the fresh tea leaf is the fresh tea leaf communication route or the fresh tea leaf circulation route. It arrange | positions in the humidification tunnel formed so that some or all of either one or both might be enclosed, It is characterized by the above-mentioned.
According to this invention, it is possible to efficiently replenish water in order to prevent water from scattering.
[0013]
Furthermore, the freshness maintaining device in the fresh leaf management device according to claim 4 is characterized in that, in addition to the requirements of claim 2 or 3, the mechanism for supplying water to the fresh tea leaf is an ultrasonic humidifier. It consists of features.
According to the present invention, low-temperature and mist-like moisture can be suspended in the air, so that the mist-like moisture reaches the inside of the stacked fresh tea leaves and can be replenished uniformly. it can.
The above problems can be solved by using the configuration of the invention described in each of the claims as a means.
[0014]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The freshness maintaining method and apparatus in the fresh leaf management apparatus of the present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the drawings. In the following description, first, the freshness maintaining device in the fresh leaf management apparatus of the present invention will be described, and then, in describing the operating state of this device, the freshness maintaining method in the fresh leaf management device will be referred to.
[0015]
In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a fresh leaf management device to which the present invention is applied. This device is provided in the front stage of the tea processing device 7 and is picked from the fresh tea leaf feeding device 2 and picked from the raw tea leaf A. And controlling the quality of the raw tea leaf A so that the temperature of the raw tea leaf A is not more than a predetermined product temperature by cooling it, and a necessary amount of the raw tea leaf A can be always supplied to the tea processing apparatus 7. It plays a role as a storage pool that can accommodate fresh tea leaves A.
[0016]
Such a raw leaf management device 1 cools the raw tea leaves A accommodated in the storage container 10 and a storage container 10 that stores the raw tea leaves A, and a plurality of the storage containers 10, and the quality control thereof. The air blower 11 is designed to close the bottom surface of the storage container 10 and includes a conveyor 12 that stores and conveys fresh tea leaves A stored in the storage container 10.
Further, the raw tea leaf supply path 3 for supplying the raw tea leaf A (which is also referred to as A1 in the present specification) to the tea processing apparatus 7 in the next step, which has become a predetermined product temperature or lower, Basically, by connecting again the fresh tea leaf A higher than the predetermined product temperature (in the present specification, the raw tea leaf higher than the predetermined product temperature is also referred to as A0) into the storage container 10 again with the fresh tea leaf circulation path 4. It is configured.
[0017]
Among these, the storage container 10 includes a pair of left and right side plates 101 rising from the side edge of the transport conveyor 12, and a scraping device 102 provided at the front end in the transport direction of the transport conveyor 12 (the end serving as the outlet for the fresh tea leaves A). A long cylindrical member having an open top surface and bottom surface constituted by a front plate 103 provided on the starting end side (the end opposite to the side where the scraping device 102 is provided) of the conveyor 12. .
In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the tip of the storage container 10 (the end on the take-out side of the fresh tea leaf A) is lifted somewhat upward. This is due to the inclination of the conveyor 12. It is. Therefore, according to the arrangement | positioning aspect of the conveyance conveyor 12, it can take an appropriate form, such as a thing with the whole flat uniformly, or the thing bent in the downward direction or the side somewhat.
[0018]
A transfer conveyor 12 is provided on the bottom surface of the storage container 10, which is constituted by a slat conveyor as an example, and each slat 121 which is a component of the slat conveyor has a large number of passages. A pore 122 is formed. The vent hole 122 serves to guide cold air from the blower 11 described later into the storage container 10. Accordingly, various modifications can be made, for example, by forming a slit-like vent or by forming the slat 121 itself in a net shape, as long as it has the same function.
[0019]
3 is provided in the move floor 13 as shown in FIG. 3, and a blow drum 14 is provided using the space of the move floor 13 below the transfer operation of the transfer conveyor 12. It has been. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the blower drum 14 is divided into a plurality of sections, and it is configured such that cold air can be sent only to necessary sections according to the storage position and storage amount of the raw tea leaves A to be stored. Of course, this section can be increased or decreased as necessary. Alternatively, if necessary, the partition provided between the sections can be removed, the adjacent sections can be connected by opening and closing, or one section can be connected. It is also possible to use it as a blower cylinder 14.
[0020]
Next, the air blower 11 that sends the cold air to the air blowing cylinder 14 will be described. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, a plurality of blowers 11 are provided on the side of either the left or right side plate 101 of the storage container 10, and basically include a blower 111 and a humidifier 112. Thus, the outside air sent by the blower 111 is supplied as cold air from the blowout duct 113 to the blower drum 14 with the cooling water evaporated by the humidifier 112.
[0021]
The raw tea leaves A cooled by such various members, stored and transported and taken out from the storage container 10 are measured for their product temperature by the temperature sensor T, and the switching mechanism 6 uses the raw tea leaf supply path 3 or the raw tea leaves A. It is sent to one of the tea leaf circulation paths 4. In the case of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, a fresh tea leaf communication path 5 is provided from the outlet of the raw tea leaves A in the storage container 10, and the raw tea leaf supply path 3 and the fresh tea leaves are connected to the fresh tea leaf communication path 5. The circulation path 4 is connected.
[0022]
In the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, a horizontal conveyor 50 constituted by an oscillating conveyor is disposed as an example below the scraping device 102 in the storage container 10, and an example is provided at the end of the conveying direction of the horizontal conveyor 50 as an example. A vertical conveyor 51 constituted by a bucket conveyor is connected to form a fresh tea leaf communication path 5.
[0023]
Also, immediately below the upper end of the vertical conveyor 51, there is provided a switching mechanism 6 constituted by a switching conveyor 60 that can set the transport direction so that forward / reverse switching is possible. The supply path 3 faces and the fresh tea leaf circulation path 4 faces the other end. As the switching conveyor 60, a belt conveyor, a vibration conveyor, a slat conveyor used in the transfer conveyor 12, or the like can be used.
[0024]
In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the fresh tea leaf circulation path 4 is connected to one end of the switching conveyor 60 and the upper end side of the storage container 10 (strictly speaking, the fresh tea leaf feeding conveyor 20 in the fresh tea leaf feeding device 2). It is comprised by the return conveyor 40 laid horizontally between the above. As the return conveyor 40, various conveyors can be used as in the switching conveyor 60 described above.
[0025]
Note that the fresh tea leaf circulation path 4 described above with reference to FIG. 1 is merely an example that can be used as the fresh leaf management apparatus 1, and the fresh tea leaf circulation path with a different configuration or arrangement as described below. This does not prevent the use of 4.
That is, FIG. 5 shows various embodiments in which the configuration or arrangement of the fresh tea leaf circulation path 4 is different. First, in FIG. An embodiment constituted by a plurality of return conveyors 40 is shown. Incidentally, in the illustrated embodiment, two return conveyors 40 are arranged at right angles, and an embodiment in which the conveying path is longer than the fresh tea leaf circulation path 4 shown in FIG. 1 is illustrated. In the present embodiment, a stock yard 41 may be provided for the preceding return conveyor 40 as shown by a two-dot chain line in FIG. By the way, if such a stock yard 41 is provided, temporary storage is possible in the case where there is an obstacle to the introduction of fresh tea leaves A, such as when fresh tea leaves are put into the storage container 10 from the fresh tea leaf feeding device 2. Become.
[0026]
5 (b), the raw tea leaf A is taken out from the side of the storage container 10, and the raw tea leaf A is directly transferred to the start end side of the storage container 10 by the inclined conveyor 42 without passing through the raw tea leaf communication path 5. The tea leaves A can be introduced. Further, as shown in FIG. 5C, a return conveyor 40 is provided below the storage container 10 along the storage container 10, and a vertical conveyor 43 as shown is provided at the end of the return conveyor 40 in the transport direction. The fresh tea leaves A can be re-introduced into the storage container 10.
[0027]
The fresh leaf management apparatus 1 to which the present invention is applied is configured as described above, and the humidification mechanism 8 for replenishing moisture to the fresh tea leaves A serving as the freshness maintaining apparatus of the present invention will be described below.
The humidification mechanism 8 is provided in one or both of the fresh tea leaf communication path 5 and the fresh tea leaf circulation path 4. In this embodiment, as an example, water is atomized by vibration of a ceramic vibrator. It is assumed that the ultrasonic humidifier 81 is suspended therein and the blower 82 is used to send the mist F generated by the humidifier 81. As the humidifying mechanism 8, a sprayer that sprays a relatively small-diameter mist-like water droplet, a sprayer that sprays a relatively large-diameter water droplet, or the like can also be used.
Incidentally, it is preferable that the humidifier 81 is appropriately provided with a sterilizer, a water purification mechanism, and the like.
[0028]
The humidifying mechanism 8 is arranged in a humidifying tunnel 83 formed so as to surround one or both of the fresh tea leaf communication path 5 and the fresh tea leaf circulation path 4, or both. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a part of the return conveyor 40 constituting the fresh tea leaf circulation path 4 is surrounded by a humidifying tunnel 83, and the humidifier 81 and the blower 82 are provided in the humidifying tunnel 83. It is made up.
[0029]
In addition to the above, the humidifying mechanism 8 is provided with a humidifying tunnel 83 so as to surround a part of the fresh tea leaf communication path 5 as shown in FIG. 5 or the humidifying mechanism 8 can be provided so as to provide the humidifying tunnel 83 so as to surround the whole of the fresh tea leaf circulation path 4.
As shown in FIG. 5A, when the stock yard 41 is provided for the return conveyor 40, the humidifying mechanism 8 may be provided for the stock yard 41.
Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 5 (c), when a vertical conveyor 43 is provided at the end of the return conveyor 40, a humidifying mechanism 8 is provided in a part of the vertical conveyor 43, for example, a discharge portion. Also good.
[0030]
Next, the operating state of the raw leaf management apparatus 1 configured as described above will be described, and a freshness maintaining method in the raw leaf management apparatus of the present invention will be described.
First, fresh tea leaves A picked in the tea garden are transported to a tea factory, and directly stored in the raw tea leaf charging device 2 or once in an underground container, and then put into the storage container 10 by the fresh tea leaf charging device 2.
[0031]
The fresh tea leaves A put into the storage container 10 are cooled by receiving the cold air sent from the blower 11 from the vent holes 122 of the slats 121 in the transport conveyor 12, and are provided at the transport direction end by the transport conveyor 12. It is conveyed toward the scraping device 102 to be scraped. When the fresh tea leaves A reach the scraping device 102, the piles of the accumulated fresh tea leaves A are cut down and supplied onto the horizontal conveyor 50 positioned below the piles.
[0032]
Then, the raw tea leaves A supplied onto the horizontal conveyor 50 are conveyed by the horizontal conveyor 50 and, when reaching the end, are then conveyed upward by the vertical conveyor 51 and reach the upper end of the vertical conveyor 51. 2 and 4, since the temperature sensor T is provided at the upper end of the vertical conveyor 51, the temperature of the fresh tea leaves A is measured at this portion (note that the temperature sensor T). Can also be provided in the storage container 10, as long as it is provided at least before the switching mechanism 6).
[0033]
And based on the measurement result of a product temperature, the conveyance direction of the switching conveyor 60 is switched, and the raw tea leaf A by which the product temperature was measured is supplied on the switching conveyor 60 after that. When the supplied raw tea leaf A is a raw tea leaf A1 having a predetermined product temperature or less, the raw tea leaf A1 is guided to the raw tea leaf supply path 3 and sent as it is to the next tea making process. On the other hand, when the raw tea leaf A0 is higher than the predetermined product temperature, the raw tea leaf A0 is supplied onto the return conveyor 40 constituting the raw tea leaf circulation path 4.
By the way, without measuring the product temperature of the raw tea leaf A, the transport direction of the switching conveyor 60 is switched manually, and a batch of raw tea leaf A0 that seems to be higher than the predetermined product temperature is returned to constitute the raw tea leaf circulation path 4 An operation such as supplying on the conveyor 40 is also possible.
[0034]
Then, the raw tea leaf A0 supplied onto the return conveyor 40 is transported by the return conveyor 40 to the upper end side of the storage container 10 and directly into the storage container 10 or once in the raw tea leaf input device 2. After being put on 20, it is thrown back into the storage container 10.
At this time, the fresh tea leaves A are replenished with moisture by the humidifying mechanism 8 disposed on the return conveyor 40, and the fresh tea leaves A located in the humidifying tunnel 83 are generated by the humidifier 81 and sent by the blower 82. The sprayed mist F comes into contact, and the mist F reaches the inside of the stacked fresh tea leaves A to uniformly supply water to the fresh tea leaves A, thereby preventing a decrease in freshness and lowering the product temperature.
Incidentally, when the fresh tea leaf loading conveyor 20 is used, the raw tea leaf A0 can be recharged at an optimum position in consideration of the storage position of the fresh tea leaf accommodated in the storage container 10 and the like.
[0035]
The fresh tea leaves A0 having a temperature higher than the predetermined product temperature charged again into the storage container 10 are repeated until the predetermined product temperature is reached by repeating the above-described operation until the storage container 10, the fresh tea leaf communication path 5, the switching conveyor 60 and the fresh tea leaf circulation. It circulates on the path 4 and is sent to the fresh tea leaf supply path 3 side when it becomes below the predetermined product temperature, and is supplied to the next tea processing process.
[0036]
[Other embodiments]
In addition to the basic embodiment described above, the present invention can adopt an embodiment as described below based on the technical idea of the present invention.
That is, in the above embodiment, a case is described in which a single fresh leaf management device 1 is assumed and the fresh tea leaf A is supplied from the single fresh leaf management device 1 to the next tea-making process. In an actual tea factory, a plurality of fresh leaf management devices 1 are arranged as shown in FIG.
Accordingly, the fresh tea leaves A0 that are determined to be higher than the predetermined product temperature are re-introduced into the same storage container 10, and the state of the raw tea leaves A into the storage container 10 and the accommodation of the raw tea leaves A in all the storage containers 10 are stored. It is also possible to select the optimum loading position of the optimum storage container 10 in consideration of the position, the amount of accommodation, and the accommodation state, and to recharge it. In such a case, it is more cost-effective to provide the humidifying mechanism 8 in the fresh tea leaf circulation path 4 shared by a plurality of storage containers 10 (two in FIG. 6) rather than the fresh tea leaf communication path 5. Preferred above.
[0037]
【The invention's effect】
According to the present invention, there is provided a freshness maintaining method and apparatus in a novel fresh leaf management apparatus capable of preventing a drop in freshness by supplying moisture to fresh tea leaves when fresh tea leaves are put into a storage container. can do.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a fresh leaf management apparatus to which the present invention is applied.
FIG. 2 is a rear view showing a fresh leaf management device and a side view showing an enlarged freshness maintaining device of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a longitudinal side view showing a fresh leaf management apparatus.
FIG. 4 is an enlarged side view showing the periphery of the same tea leaf communication path.
FIG. 5 is an explanatory view showing other various embodiments in which the configuration and arrangement of the fresh tea leaf circulation path are different.
FIG. 6 is a skeletal plan view showing one embodiment of an arrangement mode of fresh tea leaf circulation paths when a plurality of fresh leaf management devices are provided.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Fresh leaf management device 2 Fresh tea leaf input device 3 Fresh tea leaf supply route 4 Fresh tea leaf circulation route 5 Fresh tea leaf communication route 6 Switching mechanism 7 Tea processing device 8 Humidification mechanism 10 Storage container 101 Side plate 102 Scraping device 103 Front plate 11 Blower device 111 Blower 112 Humidifier 113 Blowout duct 12 Conveyor 121 Slat 122 Vent 13 Move floor 14 Blower 20 Fresh tea leaf conveyor 40 Return conveyor 41 Stock yard 42 Inclined conveyor 43 Vertical conveyor 50 Horizontal conveyor 51 Vertical conveyor 60 Switching conveyor 81 Humidification 82 Air blower 83 Humidification tunnel A Fresh tea leaves A0 Fresh tea leaves (higher than the specified product temperature)
A1 fresh tea leaves (below the prescribed product temperature)
F Mist T Temperature sensor

Claims (4)

The plucked fresh tea leaves are stored in a storage container, and cooled and transported while carrying out quality control of the raw tea leaves, and all or part of the fresh tea leaves taken out from the storage container to the outside, In the method for managing fresh tea leaves that are circulated by re-introducing them into the storage container again, either or both of the fresh tea leaf communication path and the fresh tea leaf circulation path that pass when fresh tea leaves are re-introduced into the storage container. A freshness maintaining method in a fresh leaf management device, wherein water is replenished to fresh tea leaves. A storage container for storing freshly picked fresh tea leaves, a plurality of the storage containers provided for the storage container, cooling the fresh tea leaves stored in the storage container, and controlling the quality thereof, and closing the bottom surface of the storage container And at least a transport conveyor for storing and transporting the raw tea leaves stored in the storage container, and further supplying a raw tea leaf supply path for supplying the raw tea leaves that have become a predetermined product temperature or less to a tea processing apparatus in the next process, In the fresh tea leaf management device, which is connected to the fresh tea leaf circulation path for re-feeding fresh tea leaves having a temperature higher than the predetermined product temperature into the storage container again, either or both of the fresh tea leaf communication path and the fresh tea leaf circulation path A freshness maintaining device in a fresh leaf management device, comprising a mechanism for supplying water to fresh tea leaves. The mechanism for supplying water to the fresh tea leaves is arranged in a humidifying tunnel formed so as to surround either or both of the fresh tea leaf communication path and the fresh tea leaf circulation path or both. The freshness holding device in the fresh leaf management device according to claim 2. The freshness holding device in the fresh leaf management device according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the mechanism for supplying water to the fresh tea leaf is an ultrasonic humidifier.

Images